embrace life.

Friday morning. Day three of the challenge began with my physiology exam, which I think (hope??) went decently well. After using my massive brain strength all morning, I headed down Spring Garden to the 12:00 Moksha class. It was a slightly drizzly morning in Halifax (I know, such a shock lately!) Making my way to the studio I found myself stepping on something that definitely did not feel like a rock. Glancing down, I spotted a faint glimmer and bent down only to find this astonishingly appropriate ring, engraved with the words Embrace Life. What a wonderful way to start day three of the challenge! I took it as a good omen, and have not taken this simple reminder off my thumb since I found it. It just seemed like such a perfect object to come across at this point in my journey.

The noon class was my first experience with the lovely MYH director Joanna, believe it or not, and it was fantastic! I was feeling fresh, and not as sore as I'd been on Thursday thanks to some pre-bedtime stretching and quieting poses. I felt confident during my first class of the day. It was very awakening and I don't feel like I particularly struggled through any of the poses. Camel is quickly becoming one of my favourites; instructors often warn that this intense backbend can cause a flood of emotions, and they are certainly not wrong about that. I finally feel like I can just let myself melt back into this pose, but at the same time I just love the feeling that I am being lifted up and away by my heart centre, as though an invisible force is pulling me up but keeping me grounded at the same time. For me the cascade of emotions comes when I curl my body back upright and feel the blood pulsing in my head and neck, overwhelming me sometimes as I sit back down. On this day however, as I returned to my upright position, I kept my mantra of embrace life in my head and tried to just exist with and accept any emotions that were cropping up. Sometimes easier said than done most certainly!

After a peaceful afternoon at home, I headed out once more to the 7:30 class for my 'day four' practice. I was a little nervous about doubling up my practices, but found as soon as I was in the hot room again I realized there was nowhere else I would rather be. The evening classes are always so packed, but it creates such a strong energy in the class that I just love. This class was taught by the lovely Kirsten, and was another delightful hour. I did feel a bit of weakness in my legs this time, but am hoping that as I progress through these 30 days my leg strength will improve and doing two or three classes in a day would be a piece of delicious, luxurious cake! (Wishful thinking?? Hopefully not!) The more I immerse myself in this challenge, the more I find myself wanting to spend all of my time doing yoga, reading about yoga, talking about yoga, thinking about yoga, focusing on my breath ... it is quickly and endearingly becoming such a strong force in my life that I relish more and more with each passing moment. Needless to say, my body felt exhausted come Friday night, and I was delighted to settle myself down into my big papasan chair with Buddha before slipping into a peaceful slumber.

Saturday brought a road trip home to Prince Edward Island for the wedding of Christine Mitchell and Tiny Robert Dougan. I just want to take this moment to send so much love and congratulations to Christine and Tiny and their beautiful daughter Addison. I am so thankful to have been a part of your incredibly special day. Christine was a stunning bride, (not surprisingly, as she is one of the most beautiful souls I have ever had the pleasure of knowing) and Jamie and I and our date Kassandra had the most spectacular time. I wish you both a lifetime of happiness and love, and I think anyone would be lucky to find the kind of love that you two share. One love.

Saturday also happened to be my dear brother Conor's twenty-first birthday. I cannot believe that my baby brother is twenty one. Even though you did grow up to be bigger and stronger than me, as Mum always warned me back when I was bigger and stronger than you, you will always be my baby brother. I love you, and am so happy to have been here for you this weekend!

Sunday morning brought with it a little present from the hangover gods, which I quickly sweated out at the 10:00 MokshaLite class taught by Amy at Moksha Yoga Charlottetown with my cousin Katie (Katie's younger sister Hannah was going to come, but I think somebody stayed up a little too late at a sleepover the night before!). Moksha is certainly one way to get rid of a hangover! I think I produced enough sweat in that class for everyone in the room! Although after my day on Saturday of wearing four-inch platforms for 11 hours straight, my poor tootsies were covered in blisters, and I found it a little painful balancing up on the balls of my feet. Oh the price we pay to look fabulous ...
The studio in Charlottetown is fairly new, only a few months I believe. It is an absolutely stunning space, attached to a spa as well. I highly recommend any of my Charlottetown friends who haven't made it to MYC yet to do so! Everything about it is just beautiful, and I am so happy to hear how well they are doing!
After a wonderfully invigorating practice, we headed to my aunt & uncle John and Tanya's for a delectable birthday brunch for Conor. Unfortunately I did not start my cleanse yesterday as I had planned (more on this shortly) but I have to say, once I saw the feast that they had prepared, I am so glad I didn't! It was a delightful time, I am so fortunate to have such a close and loving family! It is so important to savour the time we get to spend with our relatives, and I always love spending time at the O'Brien house!
Another quiet afternoon as Mum spent it outside gardening, Conor and I reading (and me napping). Having two librarians as parents, there is never any shortage of books in our vicinity! Mum and Dad got me The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which I cannot wait to get into! Luckily I finished Buddha (a spectacular read, I highly recommend it!) so will be able to get into The Yoga Sutras as soon as possible.

Day six began again at MYC, with Katie and I taking the 9:30 class with the amazing Sasha. What a fabulously inspiring morning! I felt strong and confident, if a little shaky in my balancing series. I was overjoyed to get a 'nice job Maia' on my Awkward Pose (so named because the heels are raised during Chair Pose in a supremely awkward manner), which often causes my legs to shake uncontrollably like Elvis in his heyday when he was still sexy. The class continued at a smooth pace, aside from a brief break in concentration when I knocked over my water bottle and completely drenched my mat and towel (like they weren't completely saturated already!) I felt very strong in my flow today, taking with me the advice from Joanna and Kirsten on Friday that a in a perfect flow, only the hands and feet should touch the floor. Of course it takes time to get to that point, but I did feel a sanguine pride as I managed two flows without touching my knees or hips or chest to the floor! Such a fabulous feeling being able to achieve that in something that I've always struggled with. As we neared the end I gratefully sank down in to Pigeon, pouring my upper body over my bent leg and savouring the hip opening surrender that comes with this posture. Probably my favourite moment was when Sasha came over to help bring me deeper into the pose; as I lengthened my inhales and exhales her hands on my back helped me sink deeper as I felt my back lengthen and straighten out, and a calmness spread over me. What a wonderful experience at MYC! I am most certainly going to have to drop in for a class whenever I am home next! Luckily I am on the island until Wednesday, so will be able to fit in a couple more classes!

Tonight my mother and I are off on a secret adventure (I can't risk explaining it yet in case she reads before we head out!). Tomorrow is my parents' twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, and with my father out of town for work, instead Mum and I are celebrating my conception! How lucky am I! (I will never forget the moment when I was around twelve or thirteen when I discovered that my birthday was nine months to the day after my parents' wedding ... so disturbing for a young teen). I cannot wait to spend some quality time with my Mummy, it should be sublimely relaxing for both of us!

Now, a word about the cleanse. I have been following the posts of everyone who is currently on day six, and I could not be more proud of everyone!! It definitely sounds like it's been quite a challenge for some people, but every one of you is so inspiring!
I should explain, coming up this Friday, one of my best friends, Alexis, is coming to visit me from Winnipeg. This will be her first trip to the east coast, and at the top of her list is a tour of the Alexander Keith's Brewery, and spend time bonding over copious amounts of wine. Now, I have wrestled with this significantly over the past few days. There is no doubt in my mind that I am doing the cleanse, but I knew that doing it at the beginning of June would be a challenge, between the wedding and Conor's birthday and Lexi's visit. I know that I don't have to drink to have a good time, but as she will be my first Winnipeg visitor in Halifax, we have a lot of catching up to do! I think that there will just be too much temptation, between the wine and the barbecues and general frivolity, that I feel I can best achieve what I want to if I start on the thirteenth. I've been apprehensive about writing about this, for some reason I feel that I am disappointing people, or as my father and Jamie so eloquently put it 'Will you ever stop putting this off??'  But I can't thank Jamie enough for supporting me so much on this journey so far. There is no way I could get through all of this if I didn't have your love and support behind me every step of the way! I must keep reminding myself that I am doing this cleanse for ME and no one else.I need to feel at my strongest and most confident to be able to get through that 21 days, and I think I would be more successful if I wait one more week. I am slightly disappointed not to be following the group as they do it, but I am so grateful for everyone's advice and recipes and words of wisdom, so I know that when I do start next Monday, I will do so with all of the strength I have and the support of my family and friends, and fellow cleansers! I find myself trying to justify it a lot, but I have realized that the only person I need to justify it to is myself, and as long as I am confident in my ability to finish it, I can start when it best works for me. That will bring me a few days into July, but I suppose I'll just have to see how many days of yoga I can do in a row to go along with my cleanse! After the past six days I feel like I never want to go a day without doing yoga again. I do love and appreciate the mountains of support I have been getting so far, and hope that you all will stay with me on my journey as I delve deeper into learning more about myself!

This being said, I'd like to share a quote from day five of the challenge, because I believe it fits well with my new decision, as well as virtually any aspect of our lives:

“Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.” --Henry Ford

Never stop believing that you can accomplish anything. I am quickly learning that the stronger my belief in myself, the stronger I feel in my practice, and I try look at each new day as a new opportunity to grow and learn more about myself.

Have a beautiful Monday everyone,
Namaste.